As someone who is generally turned off by world PvP, and sticks to PvE and warzone/battleground PvP in MMO's I think this is a fantastic idea. I would definitely go for something like this.

Major Cressen: You saved House Organa's mission here. If I had a medal, I'd pin it right on you. Smuggler: Tell you what. Give me some credits and I'll buy one for both of us.

"So, you're desperate and you have a lot of money. I like where this is going." ALSO "You should hide in my bunk, where it's safe."

Obligatory answer: Gunslinger is fine, learn to play. If you can't hack it, play something else.

Agreeing to set up the perimeter security scanners, you say something like: "I've disabled, err... worked with this type of technology before."

After the Hutt on Narr Shadda tells you about his stolen Shanjaru: "Suck it up. Life's full of disappointments, roly-poly."

I have just a few general tips for beating your scoundrel: 1. Experiment with a variety of objects. You don't need to invest in anything expensive; common household items, like a hairbrush or table-tennis paddle work fine. Try to have contrasting textures - for example, using a feather between beatings. 2. It's always a good idea to have a "safe word". Nothing kills the buzz like beating your scoundrel, and they say "No! Stop!" and then when you do stop, they say "I didn't mean it!" and the mood is ruined. 3. Costumes really enhance things. You can try latex or rubber, or even a Princess Leia outfit. It's best to try these on in person - it sucks to order online and then find it doesn't fit. 4. If you use restraints make sure to tie them right - not too tight and not too loose. You don't want your scoundrel to wriggle out, but you also don't want to cut off circulation or burst a blood vessel. 5. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. I can't emphasize this enough. Try not to worry about it too much! There's really no right or wrong way to do it, as long as you and your scoundrel are having fun. I'm sure you two will figure it out with some patience and a sense of humor. I hope this helps you with your beating!

Good point! I will have to think more about it. I guess it depends on whether I'll be doing more PvE or PvP. My original intuition was the First build (31/5/5) was a "Raiders" build, but now I realize something like (23/16/2) will be for sustained, single-target max-dps (i.e. boss fights).

It is hard to asses the dps aspect of Shock Charge. DoT damage is small but incremental, and can make a big long term difference. The add-on skills give utility, but my real interest is a basic damage comparison, to decide which skill is better (Shock Charge or Rapid Shot). Going by TORHead's values, Shock Charge does 2581 over 18 seconds. Speed Shot does 725-1109 per activation. In a 90 second time frame, Rapid Shot would provide 2 extra Speed Shots, but Shock Charge would have 5 activations. Eyeballing the math, 5 x Shock Charge > 2 x Speed Shot. So individual ticks of Shock Charge are much smaller numbers, but overall it appears to give more punch. Considering crits, even if every Speed Shot did *double* the damage, simply applying Shock Charge on each cooldown still beats it out. Of course, this assumes that TORheads values are accurate, or at least represent the proportion of damage between these abilities correctly for the same gear.

I am considering two Gunslinger builds, assuming a mix of general PvE and PvP gaming and possibly a limitted amount of end-game raiding: Here is a "classic" Sharpshooter build for all-out single target dps: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700rsrbdMoRgzZbcZG.1 Here is a hybrid that takes Sharpshooter to Trickshot, and Saboteur to Shock Charge: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#700rsrbdMoRZrI0bRZh.1 Both builds have almost the entire Sharpshooter toolkit, but the basic difference is the First goes all the way for: - 30% crit damage bonus to Speedshot, Trickshot, Quick Draw - Massive burst damage every 90 seconds from Rapid Fire The Second sacrifices these to pick up: - Improved AoE (twice as many thermal grenades; 15% AoE damage bonus) - Bigger sabotage charges (15% damage + Contingency charges) - Constant dps from Shock charge (cooldown and duration are identical) A secondary question is whether the 2 points in Contigency charge could be moved to Sapping Charge (perhaps more useful in PvP?) I wonder if the loss of Dead Eye and Rapid Fire is balanced by the versatility and boosted AoE of the second build. Dps-wise, Rapid Fire essentially provides two additional Speed Shots every 90 seconds. The same time frame would be 5 Shock charges (with 2 more button presses/GCD's to be technical). Which provides more damage? Since I don't yet have either ability, I can't do a mathematical comparison. I am curious about your opinion, especially if you have experience with these abilities.

If I got concerned about everything people whine about on the forums, I would be put off every single aspect of the game. Fortunately the picture is never as bad as people make it out to be, so take things with a grain of salt. Bowdaar is fine, just keep his gear upgraded.

No. You can RE crafted greens into blues, and RE crafted blues into purples. The schematics for Orange crafted gear come from Underworld Trading missions, as random bonus items in addition to the normal mission reward. Anecdotally, the % chance of a bonus schematic is very low.

"What''s the upside for me?" "It''s hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

The armor rating on orange items scales with the armor mod. (Empty/blank oranges all have the same base armor.) Similarly, the damage scales with the barrel for ranged weapons and iirc the hilt for melee. As you add higher level mods, the minimum level on oranges increases. So while oranges need to be regularly upgraded to stay competitive, they don't need to be replaced. Two orange items with the same mods will have the same stats - the only difference is cosmetic. What is the reason to have epic items? Because you need fewer items to complete your gear. For example, to have the best-in-slot chest armor, you could get the one best-in-slot epic piece, but for the same stats with an orange item you would need to get three best-in-slot mods. The advantage of orange is being able to control appearance, so you don't look like some fugly multicolored jester.